Tru-Color Masking Paper

Mirage F-1 CT/CR "Special Edition" with Tru-Color Paints

Right Front

BMD-2

12

The Lighthouse

Sprue sample

T-90A Russian Main Battle Tank

Turret Detail

M16 MGMC Meat Chopper

Completed Build

WW1/WW2 Italian Cannone da 149/35

Finished

German Heavy Tank Sd.Kfz.182 King Tiger (Porsche Turret)

17

Le.Gi.Einheits-Pkw Kfz.1 / 2 / 4

Rear Deck

Mag Ach 1/2 Middle East War Series (50th Anniversary The Six-Day War)

Assembled wing

Bf-109F

Previous Next

Welcome to the IPMS/USA Reviews site!

Introduction: The primary organization of the IPMS/USA Review website is by IPMS/USA National Contest Class. Within each Class there are sub-menus by kits, decals, books, etc. The Miscellaneous Class is for items that are not class specific or that cross two or more classes.

IPMS/USA Members: We encourage you to submit reviews, both here and to the Journal. To volunteer for membership in the IPMS/USA "Reviewers Corps" and submit your own reviews, please read the Guidelines For Submitting Product Reviews.

Manufacturers, publishers, and other industry members: IPMS/USA is pleased to offer your company the opportunity for product reviews. All product reviews are performed by IPMS/USA members, and are posted in the publicly-accessible section of our website. With very few exceptions, we perform full build reviews of new kit releases, aftermarket products, and supplies. If you would care to provide product samples for review, please contact John Noack, IPMS/USA 1st VP.

To learn more about IPMS/USA, please see our About Us page.

Package

Lavochkin La-5/La-5F/La-5FN Seat with Safety Belts
Review Author
Greg Wise
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$8.50

Just what the doctor ordered, a new seat for the Zvezda kit. The Zvezda kit offers an excellent cockpit, engine and everything else. It’s an awesome kit but its weakest point is the seat. The folks at Quickboost have come to the rescue with this excellent casting that includes safety belts. Besides this seat being overwhelmingly superior to the kit part, I will be using this seat over the Aires seat provided in the Aires cockpit set #4629. Personally I prefer a seat with well-molded seat belts to the photo-etch ones. As you can see in the photographs it’s a must have if you plan on building any of Zvezda’s La-5/LA-5F/LA-5FN and it should work with any La-5 kits available.

Bottom Line

I recommend this part for your next La-5 build and would like to thank; Quickboost, Aires and IPMS for the opportunity to present this piece to my fellow IPMS brothers and sisters.

Box art

B-25H Mitchell Gunship
Review Author
Jim Coatney
Published on
Company
HK Models Co.
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$170.00

This is the third release, by HK Models, of their large-scale B-25, and in my opinion, the most interesting version. The B-25H was armed to the teeth, with fourteen .50 caliber machine guns (eight fixed forward and fired by the pilot) and a 75mm howitzer. The kit comes in a very large top-opening box, with another front-opening box inside. There are twenty-nine individually-packaged sprues, with a total of 563 parts. Slide molding is used to add nice details, like hollow barrels on the MGs and rifling on the 75mm gun.

Molding is very crisp, with good detail and little flash. However, mold lines are prominent on most parts, meaning a lot of cleanup is required. The box boasts over 500,000 rivets are molded into the model. Most of the rivets look very good, but along the top and bottom of the fuselage, they are shallow and elongated- likely due to limitations of the molds. The clear parts are crystal clear, although sprue attachment points are large.

Cover Image

Model Art No. 06 Air Model Special
Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Model Art
MSRP
$10.95

Model Art has long set the standard for excellence when it comes to covering modeling subjects related to Japanese military history. The Model Art No. 06 publication is no exception, covering the Mitsubishi Zero variants.

The publication covers the A6M3, A6M5, A6M5 Night Fighter, A6M5C, A6M7, and A6M8. While coverage of the Zero variants dominates this issue, there are some other aircraft highlighted in some short “build” articles as well.

Beginning on page 96, Model Art changes the era of coverage from WWII to modern times with a great article on a 1/32nd F-104J in JASDF markings. Eight pages filled with excellent images provides the reader with a visual “how to” for a natural metal paint scheme and some super detailing on the engine and in the cockpit.

Box Art

F-101A/C Voodoo
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Kitty Hawk
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$54.95

If you are like me, natural metal aircraft give you the shakes. But they are so awesome looking and the color schemes are fantastic, so when the KittyHawk Model F-101 came out, I could not resist. Let say a few things up front. If you are looking for review saying things are silly or ridiculous with the kit or how the third minor inlet was left off, you might want to go elsewhere. I am not going to use childish language in a review of the kit. On the other hand, if you want to find out how it fits, how to correct some issues, and how to get some paint on the plane, let’s dive in together.

KittyHawk’s kit comes on seven light-gray styrene sprues which have great surface detail, however, there are large sprue gates, and the plastic is fairly soft. In the box there are also kit decals, a photoetch seat, and a clear sprue. Looking at the parts breakdown, more variants are definitely coming. There are also several options for the modeler:

Box Art

M6A1 Heavy Tank
Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$69.99

The M6

The M6 Heavy Tank was designed and produced in small numbers during World War II, but never saw combat. By 1942, three prototypes were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. The prototypes differed by power plant, transmission and hull assembly method - one had welded hull and two cast hull.

However by the time the M6 was ready for production, the Armored Corps had lost interest in the project. The advantages the M6 offered over medium tanks were offset partly by the shortcomings of the design. By the end of 1942, the Armored Corps were sure that the new M4 Sherman gave adequate solution for the present and the near future.